Reading is Not a Crime

I have honestly been taken aback by the reluctance of many folks to read The Skies Belong to Us while traveling. Time and again, I’ve heard from people who refuse to bring the book on planes, for fear of freaking out their seatmates—or, more important, those meddlesome TSA screeners.

I’m sympathetic to these concerns, but also saddened by them. Simply reading a book of American history should never be an act that arouses suspicions. I would now like to stress that important point by offering y’all a delicious inducement to read The Skies as you transit from one city to the next.

To promote the book, the missus and I designed and printed 100 sets of skyjacker trading cards. There are now just 20 left, and I want to give these limited-edition gems away to brave souls who read The Skies while aloft—or, at the very least, in airports. How do you claim this scintillating prize? There are three easy ways:

1) Tweet a photo of yourself reading The Skies on an airplane or in an airport, along with either the hashtag #TheSkies or my handle (@brendankoerner). I will then reach out to get your mailing address.

2) Tag both yourself and me (+brendankoerner) in a Facebook photo of yourself reading the book on an airplane or in an airport.

Yes, you can snap yourself reading the digital version. I’ll trust you to do the right thing and actually download the book, rather than just hold up a sample chapter for the camera. I believe in the innate goodness of our species.

Unfortunately, I’m very afraid of flying, but I just finished reading your book, and after having promoted it restlessly to real and facebook friends I now got a few of them reading it, and loving it, just as much as I did.

If that is worth something, this high school teacher in English on a small island off the Finnish coast would be quite grateful to get his hands on a card set.